Our House in the Middle of Our Street

We are in the midst of packing up, and moving. Not just any move, but The Move we've been trying to accomplish for years now. We're heading up to (Washington) Canada. In the last couple of months Stefan had been talking to a potential employer up in Richmond, British Columbia , and after a very swift interview process they offered him the job. Small and large details aside, he accepted and plans to start on February 25th. We leave one week earlier, on the 18th. That's literally just over 2 weeks from when you will read this. We told family and close friends first, and while we haven't been keeping it a huge secret, our church, as a whole, did not know until last night because it was then we could tell everyone at our seasonal congregational meeting what our plans were in person, and with many of them all at once. I didn't want to say anything online until that happened. We've been steadily spending heaps of time with friends and family, all while slowly p

photocredit My last post was a very long list , and this is more of the same, only with the movies I hope to watch in 2013. Stefan and I are huge flick addicts, and although we only watch roughly 1 hour of TV (movie, or a show on Netflix) a day, we go through, usually, over 40 movies in a year, with the sparse movie outing in an actual theater. Watching movies is just another avenue of my love of literature because it's a story in a visual sense, with a different perspective and rich aesthetics. I learn so much from movies, and within a church educational hour film class, have been able to understand more of film, how it affects culture and how a good story touches us on so many levels including our spiritual sense. There will (hopefully) be reviews of some of my favorites, as writing book and movie reviews is one of my favorite things--I love to share what I find honest and well done--but I know I won't get to them all. The picture above, Les Miserables , was the film

Last year I had a good reading year. I didn't do a lot of sewing, a little bit of knitting, and almost no other creating besides the blog. I read a large majority of this list from 2012 , and added quite a few more that I finished within the twelve months as well. While I couldn't possibly add to an already bursting year in 2012, I had made, perhaps in July, a second book list for 2013. This was a fairly absurd idea, being as I was going to have an impossible list to get through at that rate, but I can't resist a good title. The books with the (*) behind it, means that was a book I wasn't able to read, but had on my list in 2012. Without further ado, my list for this year: * Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott * Some Assembly Required by Anne Lamott *  Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tripp *Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy *In The Basement of the Ivory Tower by Professor X (current read) *When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson *State of Wonder by A

painting by one of the kids We've had a nice two weeks 'off' from our regular routine, and quite a quiet December for these parts. The kids have played with new toys, I've read some new books (!), and Stefan and I have had good quality time relaxing during the evenings with nowhere to be, only Mad Men episodes to enjoy before turning in for the night. It really has been sweet. Next Monday we'll start afresh with a bit more structure, Ani's music class will start up again, and I'll be thinking about whether or not to sign up the kids for a winter swimming session. I have a lot of fun new ideas and outings planned for the kids, and already have my list ready for the Spring home school conference (sticking to my budget this year!). All in all, this time has given me a lot of opportunity to reflect on where we were last year, what goals we achieved, where we need to continue work, or where we need to move onto new things, and realize what a blessed y